Power cuts are usually associated with developing countries, not with Europe’s largest city. That is why the two-day blackout in parts of Berlin caught global attention and even prompted German authorities to launch a terrorism-related investigation.
Large residential areas and business districts in the German capital were left without electricity for nearly 48 hours, marking the city’s longest power outage since the Second World War. Around 45,000 households and more than 1,100 businesses were affected, even as temperatures remained well below freezing.
German investigators said they are treating the incident as a serious criminal act and are probing possible links to terrorism. Authorities are examining charges related to suspected membership in a terrorist organisation, sabotage, arson and disruption of essential public services. Power supply was fully restored only by Thursday.
Given the severity of the situation, the federal government deployed the army to assist residents, according to German broadcaster DW. Local authorities, along with charitable organisations, set up emergency shelters in hotels, schools and sports complexes to provide warmth and basic facilities.
Berlin recorded a temperature of around minus 9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, while the average winter temperature in recent days hovered near minus 2 degrees. The mercury reportedly dipped as low as minus 11 degrees during the outage.
To help residents cope, public swimming pools were kept open round-the-clock to allow people access to warm showers, and city buses were used as temporary heating centres.
Although electricity has now been fully restored, the scale of the disruption has raised serious questions about infrastructure security in one of Europe’s most developed capitals.